Revelation

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The pst couple of days, I've sat down and devoted some time to really listening to New Order's _Get Ready_. I liked the album when I initially heard it, but intense listening over the past couple of days have led me to conclude that not only is this the best album New Order have released in their career, but it's probably one of the top 100 albums I've listened to.

What albums do you have lurking around in your collection that struck you like a lightning bolt after some period of lurking in the background? Did you end up liking or hating them? Have your feelings towards them changed any as time has gone on?

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

After about half a year of owning it, I finally really got into "Double Nickels on the Dime" this morning. It's all about context, really. DNotD is now my typing-a-term-paper-really-early-in- the-morning album.

― alex in montreal, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I've always liked D.I. Go Pop, but it seems to not merely grow with relistening, but to sound like it's on its own particular, unique, isolated monument. Like it resists lists, even mine. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

liking - Bauhaus, and Voice of the Beehive.

hating - Quicksilver Messenger Service, and the Ghost Dog soundtrack.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Whoa! I bought "Get Ready" 3 weeks ago and HAVE NOT YET PLAYED IT! Hearing "Crystal" in clubs all the time kinda was sufficient for me. I played the Bobby G track because, well, it's the Boab, but it sounded too much like the usual PS for me to really get into it immediately. I now know what I'm putting straight in my stereo when I come back from work! Cheers Dan! Enthusiasm is the best enticement...

― Simon, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The New Leonard Cohen took weeks of heavy play before it settled.

― anthonyeaston, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dan - this is the exact question I wanted to ask.I've had this experience with Taking Tiger Mountain and Idaho's This Way Out.I was fairly indifferent to both of them until I chanced to drag them out and enjoy.Cue "Shit,this is good!" moment.

― Damian, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Spot on about "Get Ready", Dan - it took me 3 weeks or so, but it's a classic.

Others? As chronicled in ILM before I did a complete U-turn on MBV's Loveless this year, a mere 10 years after release. Pet Sounds took 5 years or so. I've had The Monkees "Pisces Aquarius Capricorn and Jones" for a year and just realised it's bubblegum heaven.

― Dr. C, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dan and Dr.C, I must absolutely agree. Not to be too clever but I have to admit that I loved "Get Ready" from the start. To me it is the album I would have liked New Order to release as their first after the end of Joy Division.
Many albums take their time to like them and I feel those are the best albums. Giant Sand's "Center of the Universe" is one for me. I bought it, listened to it two or three times, found it ok but not special and forgot about it for something like 8 years. When I bought "Chore of Enchantment" last year which is another jewel and hit me immediately I relistened to "Center" and discovered its beauty.
Another examples are Joy Division in general. It took me a couple of years to appreciate their music. Same for the Cocteau Twins though now I am descending the ladder again as when relistening to them I find some very predictable.
So many albums to rediscover in my cd collection. That is a really nice outlook. I think I should stop buying new cds for a while.

― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Damian, "Taking Tiger Mountain" is a good example. "This Way's Out" I like but it was a step back after their perfect debut "Year after Year" wasn't it? Have you heard the new one? Apparently Jeff Martin is on his own there. I have read very good things about it in French zines.
Anthony, I am really looking forward to the new Cohen which I have ordered. What I heard first was really deceiving (female background choirs, electronic production) but I am quite sure I will like it.

― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The one problem with Get Ready is Rock The Shack - as predicted Gillespie's influence resulted in something pretty crap.

Actually "Movement" is an album which I've only just begun to appreciate fully. As a document which captures New Order's first faltering steps post-JD but pre-sequencer, Movement is interesting and compelling. For a long time it felt a disappointment after "Closer" and Hannett's unusual production seemed to be a device to mask some tentative and half written material. Wrong! For a start there are at least a couple of dozen production ideas which are startlingly original and have never really been followed up - the rhythm tracks, whether Steve Morris or the drum machine, are just amazing. There are so many cunningly placed filtered effects and 'slippery' phasing which subtly push the momentum. I think the problem with hearing this album in the '80s was that it sounded so damned odd amidst a sea of huge gated snares and bright synths. For me it's taken a pair of late '90s ears to put it into context. I hear similarities with Daft Punk!

― Dr. C, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Alex - This Way Out is my favourite,with Year After Year a close second.I was disappointed with the previous Idaho album,so I don't really think I'll try my luck with the newest album,which is a shame,and yes,it is just Jeff these days (in the studio anyway).

― Damian, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

To my shame I must admit that I do not know "Movement". But I was very disappointed by Low-Life which was praised by some critics. For the time being "Get Ready" is my favourite by NO. But this can obviously change.
And "Rock the Shack" is quite average Dr.C. Though I usually like Primal Scream. There is another weak track in the second half of the record but I have forgotten which one. The rest is very consistent.
I am still not into "Pet Sounds" but I am a little younger than you Dr.C I guess so maybe I will understand it one day.

― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Damian, I fear it could be like with Swell's latest. David Freel was on his own and the result is very deceiving. Quite electronic, repetitive and flat. Just discovered that the agenbyte weblog has a not so positive review of "Levitate".

― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Swell blew it after "Well".

Alex you are implying that I am an old man, genau zu? I am a GREY PANTHER - Sinker said so, and he is always right. Alles ist Klar?

What is wrong with Low-Life?

― Dr. C, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What is wrong with Low-Life?
Probably a good candidate for this thread. It can only grow on me. I find that it lacks catchy tunes for which I always adored NO. It sounds mechanic (I don't know a better word right now). I just have to relisten to it to say why I don't like it, it's a long time since my last listen .

― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Swell blew it after "Well".
NO NO NO grey panther. "41" (wouldn't that be a subtle birthday present for you in the not so far future Dr.C?) was my introduction to Swell and is as good as the first two records. I love their way of integrating street and other sounds into the music. Even "Too Many Days Without Thinking" is still very very good. Swell is my personal psychedelic atmosperic indierock heaven. Never has a band had a more appropriate name. :-) The last two albums were nevertheless disappointing, that's true.

― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Smiths - absolutely loathed them at first. It wasn't so much Morrissey as it was the overall sound - there was something ickily twee about it. I started to come around slowly a few months later (I think it was with "There Is A Light...") and they became one of my favorite bands. I've been slipping back recently, as Morrissey's voice is starting to grate.

Le Tigre - I'd heard the album a few times and sort of admired it from a distance but never thought it would mean much to me until one night driving in Santa Monica the first track came on and I thought "This is wonderful." In a quite un-avant-garde-poseur-type way.

Pet Sounds - the first album I ever bought based on its reputation. At first I was indifferent, but it grows on you after a while and eventually you can't understand how you ever lived without it.

The Clash - I'd fallen for the Sex Pistols album immediately and so I was a little disappointed that I didn't take to the Clash at once. The first album sounds very harsh and tinny and ugly at first, with Strummer barking incomprehensible lyrics like a rabid sea lion. I still disagree with the common belief that they're somehow more 'musical' than the Pistols, or even that they could necessarily play their instruments better. I'll take Steve over Mick any day. But I did eventually come around and decide that they were a great band, you'll be sorry to hear. ;)

― Justyn Dillingham, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The problem I had with _Low-Life_ is that I fell in love with the _Substance_ versions of "The Perfect Kiss" and "Sub-Culture" and was really turned off by how tunelessly Bernard sang them on the actual album. However, the album does have "Sunrise" and "Elegia" on it, so it's not a total wash.

Interestingly enough, before _Get Ready_ my favorite NO album was _Movement_.

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

nine years pass...

okay lol @ 10-year-old hyperbole

I do still love Get Ready but it's not better than Movement or Technique

― sick yr finger up his butt (DJP), Monday, 19 September 2011 18:03 (fourteen years ago)

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